Kingdom of Kerma · About 2500-1500 BC

Kerma: the kingdom of Kush

South of Egypt, beyond the rapids of the Nile, lay Kerma, the capital of a powerful African kingdom that Egypt called Kush. Students explore its giant mud-brick temple, its trade in gold and ivory, and its long rivalry with Egypt.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 2000 BC to 1850 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

South of Egypt, beyond the rapids of the Nile, lay Kerma, the capital of a powerful African kingdom that Egypt called Kush. Students explore its giant mud-brick temple, its trade in gold and ivory, and its long rivalry with Egypt.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Kerma and the cataracts of the Nile, and explain why they mattered.
  • Describe the wealth and power of the kingdom of Kerma.
  • Explain the relationship between Kerma and Egypt, including trade, forts and war.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

2000 BC

South of the cataracts

Open the map in 2000 BC and follow the Nile south from Aswan. Find the land labeled Kerma. Rocky rapids, called cataracts, break the river here. Why would rapids make a natural border?

Open this view on the map
b

1700 BC

The city of Kerma

Zoom in on the city of Kerma, upstream of the Third Cataract. Its great mud-brick temple, the Western Deffufa, still stands about 18 m tall. Why build so big in mud brick?

Open this view on the map
c

1850 BC

Egypt's forts

Jump to 1850 BC and move north to the Second Cataract. Egypt built a chain of fortresses here, such as Buhen. What were they guarding against, and what were they guarding?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Egyptians called northern Nubia "the land of the bow". What does that tell us about how they saw the Nubians?
  2. The first archaeologist at Kerma thought it was an Egyptian outpost. Why might he have made that mistake?
  3. Kerma traded gold, ivory and ebony with Egypt. Who needed whom more?
  4. Egypt built huge forts at the Second Cataract. Were they for defense, for controlling trade or for conquest?
  5. Why do you think African kingdoms like Kerma are less well known than Egypt?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Hatshepsut. Her father Thutmose I had conquered Kerma, and her own fleet sailed south to Punt. Discuss: what did Egypt want from the lands to its south, and what did those lands get in return?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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